20 Questions for Theater Fans! You can find the original list here!

What was the first show you remember seeing?

I was in a lot of children's theater, but the first show I really remember was the touring production of Wicked. Actually that's a lie because I only remember the time dragon. Puppets!

How did you first get into theater?

Aside from the stuff I was in as a kid just for the fun of it, and coming from a very theatrical family who listened to cast albums togeter, I think I really started to realize how much theater was a genuine love for me around 11. My friends and I did shadowcasts for each other standing in front of the TV showing our favorite musical movies, and I started writing plays and getting involved in costume and cosplay.

The moment I really started to cinsider it as my career was when the question of college came up. At the time, I had just gotten into Dave Malloy's work, and started reading his blog. The world of experimental local theater was so completely new to me, itwas a whole new area to explore. At the time, I was still a big theater kid, though strictly a tech in my school's department. But I was starting to wonder where I fit into theater as an actual industry, I just didn't see myself moving to NY and working under all that pressure. So Dave Malloy's work and personal writings gave me the comfort to dream small, and focus on the art I wanted to make.

If you could only watch five shows for the rest of your life (live or recorded), what would they be?

Rag Dolly, for starters, I've already seen it a million tiems over the past five years and I'm not sick of it yet! Plus, so much opportunity to reinvent it. On that note I'm going to steal semirobotic-person's answer of Cats, just for how many different ways it can be re-imagined.

That leaves three. For some Dave Malloy let's go Three Houses, I really hope it becomes licensable, and Don't Stop Me. And why not, Sweeney Todd!

If you could only listen to five cast recordings for the rest of your life, what would they be?

Three Houses (again). Beowulf a Thousand Years of Baggage (also Dave Malloy). Dead Outlaw. A Trip to the Moon. Jesus Christ Superstar for some variety.

Currently playing or not, what show would you most want to see live?

For research, the 1986 Broadway production of Raggedy Ann, or any French production of La Mécanique du Cœur. But currently my obsession is A Trip to the Moon.

What is the farthest you’ve gone out of your way to see a show?

From one US coast to the other to see Dave Malloy's Three Houses! It isn't as far, but I also took a 12 hour train alone for a weekend for a different Malloy show, and that felt like a greater adventure being all alone.

What show is your guilty pleasure?

This is easy it's Death Note. It's always Death Note. I have loved this stupid show for ten years it has never gotten any better but I still tell everyone about it.

What show do you think deserved better?

See, you might expect me to say Raggedy Ann, because I love this show dearly and do think it deserves to come back, but genuinely in the state it was in by the time it was on Broadway I think there was no other option but to flop.

Dead Outlaw. Should have stayd off-Broadway could have run forever.

What popular show do you think is overrated? (Be nice.)

Ride the Cyclone. I think the music is great and I see why people have connected with it via the soundtrack, but the plot seems convoluted and inconsistent to me, maybe not confident enough. I think they really could have used more work before it got super popular and everyone wanted to do it. Gestures in the direction of all the ableism controversies.

What is your wildest fan-cast? (What actor would you like to see in a specific role?)

Jasmine Amy Rogers as Raggedy Ann, J.D. Mollison as Poppa. Jak Malone in Oh Mary. Julia Knitel in everything.

What is your wildest non-replica concept or alternate-universe? (A re-imagining of a show, like Cats Jellicle Ball or Company with a female Bobby.)

A radical queer interpretation of Dave Malloy's Beowulf that talks about respectability politics and acknowledging the violence done to the queer community and the violence it took to get where we are today.

What are your thoughts on bootlegs, recording shows, and preservation?

I have a whole page about this, I believe the producers need to get their shit together because other performance arts and other countries know very well how profitable recorded media can be (because that's the only way they'll ever care about it). They'd have fewer issues with bootleggers too. Generally I respect the bootlegging community because the ones doing it right have a lot of respect for the performers and other audience members, there's a lot of community guidelines.

What was the first show you ever acted in or worked on?

The first thing I know of was a kindergarten variety show about protecting the environment. But the performance I think of was my church's nativity, where second grade me pointed out that there should be a donkey in the nativity, why wasn't there a donkey? So I played the donkey. And I think that really predicted the bossy opinionated director/dramaturg I would grow up into.

What is your dream role or dream show to work on?

Directing: Trip to the Moon (Adam J Rinner), Dead Outlaw (Yazbek), Don't Stop Me (Malloy/Knight), Beowulf (Malloy), Clown bible (Malloy), Butterfingers Angel (Gibson), Shinebone Alley, and stage adaptations of the 5000 Fingers of Dr. T and La Mechanique du Coeur.

Design: All of the above, plus Ghost Quartet (Malloy), Peter and the Wolf.

Would you want to work/perform on Broadway/West End?

Probably not! It seems like a lot of pressure! And probably unlikley that I would feel like I have the freedom to really do something bold and crazy.

If you’re a tech, would you consider acting, dance, or band, and vise-versa?

I don't enjoy acting unless I am myself onstage in a storyteller/narrator role. I like being onstage, but it's only a really small margin of what I feel comfortable with so I don't enjoy it in a traditional sense. I get very overwhelmed when I am expected to think like someone I am not.

What is your proudest moment onstage or backstage?

I think some of my earliest puppet performances of my own scripts! The piece I'm thinking of was really personal and explored my experience with harm OCD and the guilt of ending a relationship. So it meant a lot to me that many people came to talk to me after. There is also a specific violent moment in the show, from backstage I could hear gasps from the audience! In the house were puppeteers and creators I really looked up to, so it meant a lot.

What is your funniest flub?

The best one I can think of actually would be too NSFW for this site lmao. Um. I got a piece of puppet anatomy upside down because I was not familiar with it.

Who/what is your biggest inspiration?

Not specifically a theater person but Adam Savage was an early artist/maker inspiration of mine! All my theater teachers I miss them. Dave Malloy. Michael Curry. The people at the theaters I'm working for right now!

Congratulations, you got through my gauntlet of questions! Recommend a show to me!

Haha I put myself through these questions. Go listen to Dead Outlaw and Trip to the Moon.